Rapid growth in the fields of telecommunication and networking has led to the deployment of multiple network devices using different technologies that all operate on the same network. Frequency bands occupied by these network devices may also overlap. As a result, signals transmitted by a network device using one technology may become interference signals for another network device. The interference signals impede the intended operation of the network device that is being interfered, thereby degrading the performance of the network.
As an example, network devices using a coaxial technology such as Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) as well as network devices using a power line technology such as HomePlug may operate in a frequency range that is below 50 mega-hertz (MHz). Operation in this frequency range could interfere with upstream transmission over network devices using a Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) technology. As another example, the MoCA or HomePlug network devices may also operate in a frequency range from 50 MHz to 1 giga-hertz (GHz), which could interfere with satellite TV devices.
Some existing techniques of dealing with the signal interference problem may involve changing the frequency band of operation for the interfering or interfered devices. The drawback of such techniques is that as available frequency spectrum becomes increasingly scarce, it may be impractical to constantly change the frequency band of operation. Other techniques may involve setting up agents at access points of the networks to gather information with respect to a particular frequency band. The agents may report the gathered information back to a centralized server. The server then manages the devices on the network after analyzing the gathered information. However, these techniques may be limited to a particular type of communications protocol and may also increase network inefficiencies since a centralized server is required.
Therefore, although existing techniques of dealing with signal interference problems have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, they have not been entirely satisfactory in every aspect.